This was always a on going problem I had and found a super cure for it . I play lots of clawhammer banjo and banjo melody note playing is big deal for me . The problem I was having was when I would go to jams and mostly fast pace ones it was hard to recall melody notes and play fast enough to play along to others .
The answer for me was something I believe Luke Abbott developed and priceless for my learning to play along with others at faster pace . It's called the strum machine and you can find at strummachine.com . It's 30 days free and no credit card to try out . You can build your own list of songs and play along to a guitar all chorded out and play as fast of slow as wanted with speed control on it and in what ever key you want it in also . This for me personally has been a small miracle to be able to take song tab and help memorize it playing notes at slow speed and increasing and playing with out at faster jamming speed . I have looked for something like this for long time and works a lot better then just slowing down you tube videos . I just wanted to share this and know there are many others looking for extra help on speed and memorizing notes or chords .

I agree! I've been using Strum Machine for several months now, and it's really helped me with my time on both guitar and mandolin. Not only that, but having a “partner” to practice with makes it easier to work on improvising, since I can hear what works and what doesn't.

Thank you Scott for posting this, and everyone else for sharing your thoughts as well. I'm so glad to be able to share Strum Machine with you all—it's the practice tool I wanted there to exist in the world, and I couldn't find it so I realized it was up to me to make it! :-)